ChangeJar

ChangeJar, a 500 Startups' graduate, is the only mobile cash solution on the Facebook Messenger Platform anywhere in the world. Their goal is to make cash payments as convenient and simple as tap-to-pay.

ChangeJar partnered with us to design their brand, consumer app, and merchant app in a way that would instil validity and simplify the user experience.

The user interface and branding of any company that deals with people's finances is incredibly important, especially for a startup that can't rely on brand recognition. Design needs to instil confidence in the user and make the product feel approachable and trusted.

Collaborating with the Soshal team was as delightful as the final product.

— Tom Champs - CEO ChangeJar

Branding

Our partnership began by defining the ChangeJar story and applying it to a refreshed brand. We collaborated closely to understand the company's vision and mission and outlined ways to connect their users to the brand.

We then outlined all needed brand materials to ensure that anything the marketing team at ChangeJar was producing was carrying the right look, feel, and voice of the brand.

The ChangeJar team wanted an approachable voice. Leveraging users distaste for pocket filling change we created playful messages like "Coins are for Mario!"

Consumer App

We started by focusing on the primary action of the app: to capture the user's change in their digital wallet.

We aimed for ultimate simplicity as we knew that customers would be using the app in line at busy retail locations and that the experience needed to be as simple as handing a cashier a $5 bill.

On-boarding was another identified challenge as the idea of paying with cash and receiving change on your phone, especially from an unknown app, could prove to be too large of a barrier to entry for consumers. We created a simple walkthrough of how the app works using a friendly tone of voice.

The friendly onboarding, combined with the added validity of a highly polished interface and user experience, helped new users, and investors embrace the application.

Merchant App

The merchant app was proving to be a larger barrier to entry than the ChangeJar team had realized. Merchants were the gatekeepers to the entire experience. If the merchant experience was not simple and intuitive, if it didn’t make their job easier, they would never embrace ChangeJar and would never suggest it to their customers.

We completely redesigned the merchant app, getting the whole process down to a series of single, or simple option steps. We knew this was important because each merchant would already have their current payment system committed to memory so our design had to be as approachable as possible or it would be seen as a burden, not as an easier way.

Through a series of user tests with actual merchants we were able to streamline the process and end up with a design that merchants no longer had to fear.

Working with the ChangeJar team was a wonderful experience. They embraced our collaborative process and held us accountable to a high standard of service.

Services

User Experience

User Interface

Branding & Creative

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